Hello.

My 2004 Fabia has had this problem a while now and I haven't really been bothered to sort it out - mainly because you wouldn't believe how lazy I am, it's ridiculous. also ... I'm not sure where to start with it. When the fault first developed, I would flick my headlights on at night and the dashboard backlight wouldn't come on. I figured out though, that if I turned on the rear window heater, the backlight came on and stayed on. After a while that became intermittent. Sometimes when I turned the rear heater on it would light up, sometimes it wouldn't. These days, the dash light never comes one, I can't remember the last time I saw it working. Any help greatly appreciated.

Almost certainly a bad connection on the instrument cluster, assuming things like heater controls light up?

Lower steering wheel to lowest adjustment, and full rake. Prise off small plastic panel between top of steering column and dash. Remove two screws, pull instrument panel forward, and remove plugs. Refit plugs and it should work.

If you have the radio code, I would advise disconnecting the battery before doing the above.

Plugs are a bit fiddly, so be careful not to break anything.

Try this as this helped with mine!

The backlight intensity adjustment knob turn down to min.......then turn back up to max....do this several times slowly!! The electrical contacts tend to burn in one place because we tend to leave it set to max....so I usally have it set to min....then when I need to see the dash I just turn it up to max!

Cheers for the replies dudes.

I'll have a go at fixing it later tonight when I get back from work. TBH I don't think I have ever noticed a backlight intensity adjustment knob.

Also when you say other things like the heater controls light up. The rear window heater button lights up, but non of the rings around the actual heater controls do, neither does the radio etc. Dunno if that changes things?

TBH I don't think I have ever noticed a backlight intensity adjustment knob.

Also when you say other things like the heater controls light up. The rear window heater button lights up, but non of the rings around the actual heater controls do, neither does the radio etc. Dunno if that changes things?

Hang on.......noe of the back light light up....that will be down to the backlight intensity knob....it's a slide/dial thingy next to the main headlight switch...also next to the headlamp levalling slide/dial thingy..

When you say your rear window heater button lights up do you mean the yellow/orange square bit in the centre of the button??...if so this means that it's on.....press this button and it turns off!!!

That changes things, could be illumination intensity dial if fitted, loose fuse etc.

Hang on.......noe of the back light light up....that will be down to the backlight intensity knob....it's a slide/dial thingy next to the main headlight switch...also next to the headlamp levalling slide/dial thingy..

When you say your rear window heater button lights up do you mean the yellow/orange square bit in the centre of the button??...if so this means that it's on.....press this button and it turns off!!!

Yeah I found it. It's not the problem though hmmmmphhh. Yeah the yellow orange square bit is what I meant. I was just saying it still lights up, not that its allways on :p

That changes things, could be illumination intensity dial if fitted, loose fuse etc.

Probably. I should mention again that I am completely useless at everything.

I lowered the steering wheel but couldn't find a plastic panel. there was a strip of foam so I pulled that out and their is a strip of plastic with two star-screws holding it on. Should I go deeper down the rabbit hole?

Edited 7 July, 201114 yr by DrLazer

The plastic panel is the top bit going across under the cluster. Give it a good tug and it will come off.

This is what it looks like when it's removed. Hopefully that's obvious enough

The plastic panel is the top bit going across under the cluster. Give it a good tug and it will come off.

This is what it looks like when it's removed. Hopefully that's obvious enough

Haha, maybe! So should I remove these bad-boys then?

Haha, maybe! So should I remove these bad-boys then?

Yep!!!

Haha, maybe! So should I remove these bad-boys then?

Yep, those screws will only really become visible when the plastic panel is taken off. They're the ones holding the cluster in place

Well I got hold of a star shaped screwdriver eventually and removed those bolts. That's about as much as I did really. When you say "instrument panel" I assume you mean the whole job lot, screen, clocks, LCD's etc. I used some bottlenosed pliers to grab the plastic around where the screws came from and gave it a few gentle tugs ... it kinda moved down about 6mm but it wont take more force than that without breaking it. Is there some simple way of removing it?

bump .. still need help :(

Get an old CD and gently inset it in the gap at the top of the cluster and the dash. You should then be able to prise it away from the dash enough to pull it out.

Great tip softscoop!

I got the instrument panel out (finally). It had two plugs. A black one on the left and a green one on the right. The green one didn't look like it could be easily detached. I took the black one off and plugged it back in. It reset the time to 0:00, but still no backlight on the panel.

I'm not usre if I have given out confusing information but just to clear up what the problem is: the instrument panels backlight does not come on when I turn the headlights on, so at night I have no idea what speed I am going, unless I'm in a streetlit area, and even then it's tricky. In addition to this, the rings around the fan controllers do not light up, neither does the backlight on the radio, and probably any other dash light that I can't think off without being sat in the car. The button that operates the rear window heater, if I push that in the orange light works. When the problem first started, turning the rear heater on would make everything work. This isn't the case anymore though ... now nothing ever light up on the dash.

Do you think it could be something more simple like a fuse? I looked around for the fuse panel but I'm not sure where to find it.

Thanks for the help thus far.

I found the fuse panel. It's between the door and the far right end of the dash. What a stupid place to keep it. Anyway I popped the cover off and the backlight fuse is fried. replaced it. Lasted a few hours then fried. Replaced it, fried. you get the gist. Something must be shorting. I'll see if I can get the intensity dial out. do you think it would be a bad idea to replace the fuse with a bigger ampage one?

I found the fuse panel. It's between the door and the far right end of the dash. What a stupid place to keep it. Anyway I popped the cover off and the backlight fuse is fried. replaced it. Lasted a few hours then fried. Replaced it, fried. you get the gist. Something must be shorting. I'll see if I can get the intensity dial out. do you think it would be a bad idea to replace the fuse with a bigger ampage one?

In Electronics ,and Electrical Engineering, you learn that fitting a higher amperage fuse than the one recommended to the circuit,is not done!. In Electronics ,you could destroy components,and or the printed circuit track itself.In Electrical Engineering ,cables,switches,etc are rated to a maximum current capacity,fitting a larger fuse could cause a fire!.The same applies to car electrics.Only if has been proved by the Manufacturers, that a fuse was the incorrect value from the beginning ,would it be OK to fit a higher rating fuse.There already is built in a large tolerance of fusing protection.

If you take the dash LED lights as an example,the total load may only about 0.5 amp ,yet the Manufacturer has fitted a 5 amp fuse, ten times the normal working current load.This is to stop the surge at switch on blowing the fuse,which would be an inconvieniece to the driver,and Garages as well.

If it was found that a higher fuse had been fitted, it would effect a car's Warrantee.

Edited 11 September, 201114 yr by AndyPandy

I have the same problem, no backlight to clocks etc, did you manage to resolve this problem?

Hello Kate.

Nice to know it's not just us

Still not fixed ... been driving with no backlight for at least a year now. If you pop off the fusepanel and find the fuse for the backlight, you will find it is black or even melted like mine. Replacing it doesn't help - same thing happens. Been thinking of ringing Skoda to get it sorted but just never got around to it.

My car has flickered all the dash lights for over a year now - just at start up until the engine's revved - it's fine after that. Haven't found the solution. I thought the battery might be on the way out but the glowplug light goes out quickly and it's still starting the car promptly first time. Haven't had any luck with altering the brightness adjuster - though I've not had it out to check it over in more detail.